BILL NUMBER: AB 904 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 5, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 27, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 12, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 11, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 10, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 14, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Skinner
( Coauthor: Assembly Member
Bill Berryhill )
( Coauthor: Senator
Berryhill )
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
An act to add Article 2 (commencing with Section 65200) to Chapter
3 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code, relating to local
government.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 904, as amended, Skinner. Local government: parking spaces:
minimum requirements.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires specified regional
transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt a regional
transportation plan directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced
regional transportation system, and requires the regional
transportation plan to include, among other things, a sustainable
communities strategy, for the purpose of using local planning to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This bill, commencing on January 1, 2014, would prohibit a city or
county from requiring a minimum number of off-street parking spaces
in transit-intensive areas, as defined, greater than 2 parking spaces
per 1,000 square feet in nonresidential projects of 20,000 square
feet or less on a single property, one parking space per unit in
non-income-restricted residential projects, and specified portions,
as applicable, of a parking space per unit for certain affordable
housing projects, except as specified. The bill would also make a
statement of legislative findings regarding the application of its
provisions to charter cities.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
Sustainable Minimum Parking Requirements Act of 2012.
SEC. 2. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) The state, cities, and counties have invested billions of
dollars in transit infrastructure. Land use policies that reduce the
cost and complexity of transit-oriented development help ensure a
return on that investment.
(2) Consistent with Senate Bill 375 and Assembly Bill 32, it is
state policy to promote transit-oriented infill development.
(3) Existing minimum off-street parking requirements throughout
the state are based on low-density and segregated single land uses.
(4) Parking is costly to build and maintain and can substantially
increase the cost of constructing and operating infill projects.
(5) The high cost of the land and improvements required to provide
parking significantly increases the cost of transit-oriented
development, making lower cost and affordable housing development
financially infeasible and hindering economic development strategies.
(6) Increasing public transportation options and developing more
walkable and bikeable neighborhoods reduce the demand for parking.
(7) Excessive governmental parking requirements for infill and
transit-oriented development reduce the viability of transit
development by limiting the number of households and workers near
transit, increasing walking distances, and degrading the pedestrian
environment.
(8) Reducing excessive minimum parking requirements for infill and
transit-oriented development and allowing builders and the market to
decide how much parking is needed may do all of the following:
(A) Ensure sufficient but not excessive amounts of parking are
provided.
(B) Reduce the cost of development and increase the number of
transit-accessible and affordable housing units.
(C) Increase density in areas with the most housing demand, and
improve the viability of developing alternate modes of
transportation, such as public transit, ridesharing, biking, and
walking.
(D) Reduce green house gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled by
removing an incentive to drive.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to reduce unnecessary
government regulation and to reduce the cost of development by
eliminating excessive minimum parking requirements for infill and
transit-oriented development.
(c) The Legislature further finds and declares that the need to
address infill development and excessive parking requirements is a
matter of statewide concern and is not a municipal affair, as that
term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California
Constitution. Therefore, this act shall apply to all cities,
including charter cities.
SEC. 3. Article 2 (commencing with Section 65200) is added to
Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code, to read:
Article 2. Sustainable Minimum Parking Requirements Act of
2012
65200. (a) Commencing on January 1, 2014, in transit-intensive
areas, a city, county, or city and county, including a charter city,
shall not require projects to provide a minimum number of off-street
parking spaces greater than the following:
(1) Two parking spaces per thousand square feet of nonresidential
projects of 20,000 square feet or less on a single property.
(2) One parking space per unit for non-income-restricted
residential projects.
(3) Three-quarters parking spaces per unit for projects that
include both income-restricted and non-income-restricted units, and
which meet the standards in subdivision (b) of Section 65915.
(4) One-half parking spaces per unit for units that are restricted
by a recorded covenant or a deed that lasts at least 55 years to
rents or prices affordable to persons and families making less than
60 percent of the area median income.
(b) This section shall not be construed as setting a maximum
number of spaces a project may provide.
(c) This section shall not be construed to limit any local agency'
s authority to regulate parking impacts from development through
exactions, fees, conditions of approval, or other valid exercise of
its police power beyond the specific limitations provided in
subdivision (a).
(d) This section shall not apply to any property that meets any of
the following criteria:
(1) The property and immediately adjoining properties are
restricted to development or redevelopment at a floor area ratio of
below 0.75.
(2) The property includes a parcel or parcels whose dwelling units
are subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts
rents to levels affordable to persons and families of low or
moderate income, or are subject to other forms of rent or price
control imposed through a public entity's valid exercise of its
police power, that will be destroyed or removed, unless any proposed
development on the property is to include an equal number of bedrooms
that shall be made available at affordable housing costs to, and
will be occupied by, persons and families in the same or lower income
category (extremely low, very low, or low) in the same proportion as
the units occupied or last occupied by extremely low, very low, or
low-income households in the property. Rental replacement units
provided pursuant to this paragraph shall be made available at
affordable housing costs for at least 55 years, or at the remaining
term of the existing recorded covenants or deed restrictions that
require maintenance of affordable housing costs, which are consistent
with the parties meeting their contractual obligations. Ownership
replacement units provided pursuant to this paragraph shall be made
available at affordable housing costs for at least 45 years.
(3) The property includes a parcel where the owner withdrew
residential rental units pursuant to Chapter 12.75 (commencing with
Section 7060) of Division 7 of Title 1, from rental or lease, or
offering for rental or lease, pursuant to paragraph (2) of
subdivision (a) of Section 7060.2.
(4) The property includes a parcel or parcels subject to a
specific plan, station area plan, zoning ordinance, or other form of
local land-use control that provides for minimum off-street parking
requirements for residential, commercial, and mixed-use new
construction and reuse projects that are lower than the minimum
off-street parking requirements in the same jurisdiction for the same
uses outside the transit-intensive area.
(e) For purposes of this section, "transit-intensive area" means
an area that is within one-half mile of a major transit stop or
within one-quarter mile of the center line of a high-quality transit
corridor. A major transit stop is For the
purposes of this section "major transit stop" has the same meaning
as defined in Section 21064.3 of the Public Resources Code. For
purposes of this section, a high-quality transit corridor means a
corridor with a fixed route bus service with service intervals no
longer than 15 minutes during peak commute hours. A property shall be
considered to be within one-half mile of a major transit stop or
within one-quarter mile of the center line of a high-quality transit
corridor if all parcels within the property together have no more
than 25 percent of their area farther than one-half mile from the
stop or within one-quarter mile of the center line of a corridor, and
if not more than 10 percent of the residential units or 100 units,
whichever is less, in any proposed project are farther than one-half
mile from the stop or within one-quarter mile of the center line of a
corridor.
(f) Consistent with subdivision (g), a city, county, or city and
county, including a charter city, that is otherwise subject to this
section, shall not be required to apply the minimum off-street
parking requirements in subdivision (a) in a transit-intensive area
in place of those set forth in its zoning code if it makes at least
one of the following written findings, specific to that
transit-intensive area, based upon objective criteria and evidence in
the record that:
(1) The transit-intensive area does not currently have or cannot
reasonably expect to have sufficient walkability to justify reduced
off-street parking requirements.
(2) The transit-intensive area does not currently have or cannot
reasonably expect to have a sufficient level of transit service or
bike access to provide for viable alternatives to the car for a
significant proportion of the trips generated by new development.
(3) The minimum parking requirements set forth in this act would
reduce the number of low-income housing units produced in that
transit-intensive area through density bonus programs such as the
program set forth in Sections 65915 to 65918, inclusive.
(4) The transit-intensive area in question will be adversely
affected by a reduction in minimum off-street parking requirements.
(g) Any action by a city, county, or city and county, including a
charter city, pursuant to subdivision (f) to exempt transit-intensive
areas from the minimum parking requirements set forth in subdivision
(a) and maintain the minimum parking requirements set forth in its
local code shall be in the form of a resolution adopted by the
legislative body of a city, county, or city and county.
(h) Multiple transit-intensive areas may be exempted from the
requirements of subdivision (a) by a single resolution, provided that
the resolution includes at least one of the findings set forth in
subdivision (f) applied to each transit-intensive area to be
exempted.
(i) (1) Before January 1, 2014, a city, county, or city and county
may evaluate and approve projects pursuant to the minimum parking
requirements under this section.
(2) After January 1, 2014, but before the adoption of a resolution
pursuant to subdivision (g), development projects shall not be
subject to minimum off-street parking requirements higher than those
set forth in subdivision (a).
(j) This section shall not apply to any city, county, or city and
county that has no transit-intensive areas within its jurisdiction.